Abstract:
The 2015–2017 summer rainfall seasons in both South and southern Africa saw drought and heat
stress severely impacting the livestock production sector, as well as agriculture more broadly.
Although the region has a longstanding operational forecasting system; tailored forecasting,
including that designed for the livestock sector, has declined in presence and operational use in
recent years. The potential use of such information to enable the livestock sector to better cope
with difficult seasons such as those of 2015–17 is clear. A range of promising initiatives attempt to
move South Africa (and the broader southern Africa region) in the direction of improved tailored
forecasting, integrated, in part, into the operational system. A number of gaps in application
remain, however, and the paper concludes with a discussion as to how the field might move
forward, particularly in the light of possible increased frequency of drought and heat stress in the
future.
